KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Caspar
TEN DAM was born in Dordrecht, Netherlands in 1967. He is a conflict
analyst and PhD-researcher on Chechen and Albanian insurgencies at
the Institute of History of Leiden University, the Netherlands. His
specialty lies in the analysis of armed conflicts, including applying
and testing his own Brutalisation theory and definitions of
terrorism, banditry, rebellion and other forms and manifestation of
violence. Analyst, advisor, editor, illustrator (e.g. for ‘Soul of
Leiden’ project, http://dezielvanleiden.nl,
and translator of manuscripts (e.g. for Tasso Publishers,
www.tassouitgeverij.nl ,
since 2014 through my CTDam Consultancy www.ctdamconsultancy.com.
Secretary & co-founder of Association for the Study of
EthnoGeoPolitics (EGP). Since 2013, executive editor of the journal
Forum of EthnoGeoPolitics (www.ethnogeopolitics.org).
Partially funded PhD research ‘Ways
to Rebel: Testing a theory of Brutalisation on the Chechen and
Albanian insurgents 1979-2001’.
Chairman & co-founder of the International Committee for
Humanitarian Intervention (www.ichuminterv.org).
Leading member of Political Committee ‘Stari Most’ - Justice and
Peace on the Balkans (PCSM; www.starimost.nl). Spokesman 1994-96,
2004. Treasurer 1997-98. Chairman 1999-2003. Board member since.

Paper
Title: The
Chechen as the Alien Other and/or the Identifiable us in recent
English-Language Accounts of the Chechen Conflict

Dr.
Bujar Hoxha was born in Skopje, Macedonia, and is Albanian by ethnic
belongings, holding a Macedonian citizenship. He graduated English
and Italian Language at the State University of Skopje. He completed
his Master’s Degree at the University of Zagreb in the fields of
Literature and Philosophy, and his Doctoral Degree at the University
of Skopje. His research fields are: semiotics of literature,
semiotics of passions, existential semiotics and semiotics of
disabilities.

Dr
Bujar HOXHA currently works as an associate professor at the
Department of Communication Sciences at the SEEU, Macedonia. Out of
his publication activities, one can number two published novels in
Albanian ( 1995 and 2006), a translation of Umberto Eco’s book into
Albanian ( previously published in English at the University of
Harvard and in Italian by Bompiani). “Gjashte
udhetime neper pyjet narrative” appeared
into Albanian in 1997, by the publishing house “Asdreni” from
Skopje. He also has published several other papers, such as ‘A
Paradoxical Way of Communication of the Children with Autism Disorder
Spectrum Syndrome”, California,
USA, 2015, “Sui
limiti della semiotica. L’oggettivita opposta alla soggettivita”,
in “EC”, Rivista italiana di semiotica, University of Palermo,
Italy, 2015, as well as “Semiotics
of Precision and Imprecision” in
“Semiotica” de Gruyter, Mouton Editions, Berlin and Toronto,
Germany and Canada, 2016. His forthcoming publications are:
“Multilingualism
in a Semiotic Contexts and Sameness vs. Otherness”,
by de Gruyter, Berlin during 2017, as well as ‘Fiction
and Reality in Eco’s Words, in
“Umberto Eco in His Own Words” to be published by de Gruyter
Berlin, Germany, in August, 2017.

Dr.
Hoxha is a member of the International Semiotic Institute of
Semiotics, at the Technological University in Kaunas, Lithuania, as
well as a part of the Project ‘Semiotics
of Cultural Heritages”, led
by the honorary Director of the Institute, Dr. Eero Tarasti, from the
University of Helsinki, Finland.

Professor
William K. Martin took his first Bachelor degree in English
Literature. He says that this degree taught him how to write a good
business letter; and, moreover, it taught him how to think. After a
successful career in business, Professor Martin sold his company and
went back to the university, taking a second Bachelor degree in Latin
and Ancient Greek, a Master’s degree in Ancient History, and
finally a PhD in American History at the University of Utah – where
in addition to his studies, he taught courses in history, English and
in the humanities. He has published in literary and historical
criticism. His first love, he says, has always been English Language
and Literature, in which department he teaches at Beder University.
He has lived in Albania for two years and makes Tirana his home.